Help pick a .223 rifle

^^^ 21.8" but it will probably only help with a bit more velocity. Accuracy should be about the same when only length is considered.
 
I haven't shot any coyotes with it yet, but I really enjoy my Mini. Accurate enough for coyote, 2" at 100yds seems to be the norm with factory ammo. It's also a great plinking rifle, cheap to shoot if you reload and a little more snot that the .22lr. All that being said a quality bolt action would almost certainly be a bit more accurate, especially if you handload for it. Can't really go wrong either way.

Stu
 
I'd go for the bolt action and not worry too much about any followup shots. In the last couple of years, there have been a couple of times when pig hunting that I wished I'd had a semi, but that second shot usually is a lower percentage shot. On the coyotes, I shot doubles 3 or 4 times in 2011, and the second shot was always a non-running shot. It seems that if you see the male/female pair, shoot the one following. The lead coyote almost always runs a short distance to the edge of the woods, stops and looks back. Of course I may have now shot all the dumb ones. If I was in the market for a 223 bolt gun for coyotes, I'd go for a short barreled lightweight version like the Remington Model 7 or something similar from Sako, Ruger, Savage, Winchester, etc. One more thing of interest if you're a picky reloader is that with the Bolt gun you have a better chance of keeping your highly prepped brass. After the first shot, I rotate the rifle so that the ejection goes down, not out to the right. I hate losing my brass.
 
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